The Crown says three people were involved in plotting the "contract killing" of 21-year-old Angela Blackmoore nearly three decades ago.
The cold case killing of Blackmoore saw the young woman stabbed with a knife and bludgeoned with a bat 39 times in a contract killing, the Crown says.
The murder took place 27 years ago, on August 17 1995. Blackmoore was 10 weeks pregnant when she was killed in the kitchen of her home. Her two-year-old son slept through the violent attack.
Rebecca Wright-Meldrum, 51, and 50-year-old David Hawken are jointly charged with her murder, a cold case that's been investigated by police for almost three decades under the name Operation Vancouver. They are both on bail throughout the trial and deny any involvement in the killing.
The Crown told the jury a third person — Jeremy Powell — has already pleaded guilty to the murder.
Blackmoore was murdered in what the Crown says was a scheme to access property she part-owned. (Source: 1News)
He told police he was to be paid $10,000 by murder accused and gang associate Hawken for carrying out the hit.
The Crown alleges Hawken's motive was a desire to gain control of property co-owned by Blackmoore and her ex-husband.
When Powell went to his victim's Vancouver St home, he says he was accompanied by his girlfriend, Wright-Meldrum, as she was a close friend of Blackmoore's, to ensure the security-conscious young woman would open the door to them.
Blackmoore had been getting threatening phone calls in the lead-up to her killing.
The Crown says Blackmoore willingly let the pair in when her friend knocked. Powell had a bat and a knife concealed in his coat, inflicting 39 wounds, the fatal blow a stab wound to the brain.
Crown prosecutor Mitchell McClenaghan told the jury: "This was a plot they were all aware of" and that the trio met numerous times to plan the hit.
However, defence lawyers have asked the jury to treat evidence given by Powell with caution.
Hawken's defence lawyer Anne Stevens said: "It is the defence case David Hawken has no involvement in the murder of Angela Blackmoore, he had no wish she died... the defence case is Jeremy Powell did not fulfil an order to kill Angela Blackmoore... it has all the hallmarks of his psychotic episode."
Defence lawyer Stephanie Grieve, representing Wright-Meldrum, said: "The key issue for you to focus on is whether Mr Powell is credible or reliable when he says Miss Wright-Meldrum was with him when he murdered Miss Blackmoore."
The Crown case's first witness has begun giving evidence in the four-week trial.
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